Method of making sheet-metal cups.



Patented Apr. 9, 19m.

A. a. Anussson. M'ETBDD OF MAKING SHEET METAL CUPS.

(Application filed Sept. 22, 1.897.) (81) Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDERS GUSTAVUS ANDERSON, OF \VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EDMUND CONVERSE, OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF MAKING SHEET-METAL CUPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 671,427, dated April 9, 1901.

Application filed September 22, 1897. Serial Nth 652,542. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDERS GUSTAVUS AN- DERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Making Sheet-Metal Cups, of which the following isa specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of the same.

My present invention relates to a sheetmetal cup having a square corner between its bottom and side wall, said cup being especially designed for ball-bearings such as are used in bicycles or other vehicles, said cup being formed from sheet metal which is drawn or stamped into shape by suitable dies without heating themetal; and it consists of a flanged cup in which the side and bottom of the cup are upset to form a right-angled corner and in which theside'of the cup and the flange are made to form a right angle, and I accomplish this result-by means of the process hereinafter described.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l represents a circular sheet-metal blank. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of a sheet-metal cup drawn from a circular blank in a diepress in the usual and well-known manner. Fig. 3 represents a sectional view of a sheetmetal cup with a portion of the metal removed from the inside of the cup, forming a shoulder near the edge of the cup and reducing the tkickness of the side wall between the tional view of the cup in positionto be acted shoulder and the edge of the cup. Fig. 4 represents a sectional view of the sheet-metal cup with its edge expanded outwardly and obliquely to thesides of the cup. Fig. 5 represents portions of a pair of dies by which certain steps in my improved process are carried on, a portion of the lower die being shown in vertical central sectional view with a secupon by the dies. Fig. .6 represents the same dies shown in Fig. 5, but with a thicker supporting-block for the cup and with a sectional view of the cup nearer completion. Fig; 7 is a central sectional view of a ball-cup made by the process heretofore practiced, and Fig. 8'

is a central sectional view of one of my"improved ball-cups.

Similar letters refer to similar different figures.

In the manufacture of my improved ballcup I first cut from a sheet of metal a circular blank A, which I form bysttitable dies into a cup B in the usual and well-known manner, the operation of drawing the blank into the cup-shaped form shown in Fig. 2 necessarily making the corner B between the bottom and side of the cup rounded, as the strain required to draw the corner at right angles would produce checks or seams in the metal. The cup Bis then placed in a revolving chuck, and a portion of. the metal on the insideof the cup and near the edge is removed by a suitable cutting-tool, thereby reducing the thickness of the side walls, as at B and forming a slight interior shoulder B at a short distance from the edge of the cup. The cup, as represented in Fig. 3, is then placed'in adie-press, and the edge of the cup is expanded outwardly, forming a flange G, standing at an oblique angle with the side of the cup. The cup B, with the expanded flange O, is then placed in the die D, with the bottom of the cup resting upon a block E, which supports the cup, with the oblique flange C above the upper horizontal face of the die D and with the sides of the cup projecting above the upper face of the die D, as at 0, about one thirty-second of an inch. The cup is then subjected to the action of a reciprocating die F, having a horizontal face F, which strikes .upon the oblique flange C to carry it down 'F to force the flange against the horizontal face of the die D. This operation is repeated, usually three or four times, substituting at each operation a'supporting-block about one thirty-second of an inch thicker than the preceding block. Each blow of the upper die F forces the sides B of the cup downward and gradually upsets the metalin the rounded parts in the corner B until it fills the space D around the cup, forming a square corner B between the sides and bottom of the cup, and the flange II is turned at right angles to the side wall, forming a right-angled corner H between the flange and the sides of the cup and in the plane of the shoulder B In Fig. 6 I have shown the cup B as completed by the successive operations of the dies D and F, with the cup held in the die D and supported upon a block E, which is thicker than the block II. The lower die D and the cup-supporting blocks E E are supported in the usual manner upon a table G. By the method now usually employed it is found necessary to shape the ball-cup substantially as shown at I, Fig. 7, with an outward flange J and a rounded corner J at the edge of the cup and also with a rounded corner J at the bottom of the cup. The ball-cup made by my improved process is completed by punching a hole K in the bottom of the cup for the spindle or shaft to pass through and by turning olf, the flange H, concentric with the axis of the cup, the completed cup being represented inFig. 8, having square or right-angled corners B 'and H. The method of cutting the circular blank A, shaping the cup B, reducing the thickness of the side wall to form the shoulder B and expanding the edge of the cup outwardly and obliquely to the side of the cup will be well understood by those conversantwith the art of working sheet metal, and therefore I have not deemed it necessary to illustrate or describe the same.

Although the operation of forming a cupshaped blank, such as that shown in Fig. 2, and forming an outward flange thereon by the action of dies substantially like those shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is well known, the method embodying my present invention is essentially difierent from any heretofore produced and forms a ball-cup different from and superior to those formed by any of the practiced methods known to me. The novelty of my improved process consists in forming an interior shoulder in a cupshaped blank, such as that shown in Fig. 3, by removing a portion of the metal from the inside and edge of the cup-shaped blank, so that when the outer flange has been turned over, as shown in Fig. 6, and the blank raised within the die D by the insertion of a thicker supporting-blockbeneath it a square inner corner at the edge of the blank instead of a rounded corner will be presented to the action of the reciprocating die F, so that when the flange H is raised above the fate or the die D by the insertion of a thicker block beneath the cup-shaped blank and pressure is applied by the die F the side 13 of the cup shaped blank will be pushed bodily down,

thereby upsetting the metal in the rounded corner B" of the blank until it fills the space D and forms a square corner between the sides and bottom of the cup. When the inner corner of the cup-shaped blank is rounded,

as would be the case if the flange were turned without cutting away the metal to form the shoulder B the application of pressure by the die F when the cup-shaped blank was raised in the die D would tend to crowd the side of the cup-shaped blank over and increasethe width of the outward flange without upsetting the metal at the rounded corner B of the cup-shaped blank. The method hitherto practiced for forming a square corner at the bottom of the cup-shaped blank is to expand the metal by a pressure applied to the inside of the cup-shaped blank by which the metal was expanded to fill the corner D of the die. To accomplish this result it is usually necessary to heat the blank, and the square corner is only formed by the expansion or stretching of the metal, whereas by my process the metal is upset instead of stretched and can be readily worked cold.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Thepmcess making a sheet-metal cup having a square sli'o'ulder between its bottom and side wall, by forming a cup-shaped blank having a rounded corner between its bottom and side wall, forming an interior shoulder, turning an exterior flange on the plane of said interior shoulder and upsetting the side wall byipressure applied to the edge of the side wall in a line parallel with the axis of the cupshaped blank while the bottom and side wall are supported against outward expansion, substantially as described.

2. The process of making a sheet-metal cup having a square shoulder between its bottom and side wall, by forming a cup-shaped blank having a rounded corner between its bottom and side wall, forming an interior shoulder, turning an exterior flange on the plane of said interior shoulder, successively upsetting the side wall by pressure applied to its upper edge while the bottom and side wall are supported against outward expansion and successively raising said cup-shaped blank by increasing the thickness of its bottom-support during the operation of upsetting the side wall, substantially as described.

3. The method of making a sheet-metal cup having a square shoulder between its bottom and side wall, by drawing acup-shaped blank from sheet metal having a round corner between its bottom and, side wall, forming an interior shoulder, turning an exterior flange, upsetting the metal between the bottom edge of the side wall by means of a die F while theblank is held in a die D, having a bottom E, with its exterior flange raised above the upper surface of the die D, and supporting the interior shoulder by a concentric projection on the die F, substantially as described.

at. The within-described method of making a flanged sheet-metal cup for ball-bearings, consisting in reducing the thickness of the side wall of a cup-shaped blank by removing a portion of the metal therefrom and forming an interior shoulder 1-3 near its edge, turning TIO ' flange H slightly raised above the face of the die D, and applying pressure to the surface formed by the outward flange H and the shoulder B by means of a die F in a line par- 1o allel with the axis of the cup while the interior of the blank is supported by the concentric projection F whereby the side of said cup-shaped blank is pushed bodily down- Ward, causing the metal to be upset and form a square corner, substantially as described. I5

Dated this 18th day of September, 1897. ANDERS GUSTAVUS ANDERSON. Witnesses:

RUFUS B. FOWLER, EDMUND CONVERSE. 

